Great Chaos Crusades
The Great Chaos Crusades, otherwise known as the Unholy Crusades, the Great Chaos War, the Galactic Chaos War, the Great Chaos Insurgency, the 65th Chaos Incursion, Chaos Wars, Chaos Invasion, Holy Crusades, the Great Revelation War by Chaos cultists, and often dubbed the Second Galactic Dark Age, was a brutal series of conflicts and wars waged by Chaos Cultists against the entire galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Jedi Civil War and waged for over six years, despite, or perhaps because of, the Chaos forces division and infighting. prier to this conflict, most of the galaxy had little of, or rather perhaps, no knowledge of the Chaos Cultists that the Imperium had to contend with off and on over the centuries after its' formation and the Great Crusade. In fact, the Imperium and its' Emperor had actively curtail any information involving the Chaos Cultists, believing it entirely an internal affair that should not concern the wider galaxy. But the Chaos Crusades put an end to this in a bloody and horrific degree. For as bad as the conflict was, the Chaos Crusades could have been far worse if the Chaos forces didn't fracture earlier into the conflict, if the once united chaos forces weren't betrayed by its' newest deity, the God of Destruction, Malal, which in turn caused the other Chaos Gods and their followers to turn on each other as well. Historians today don't doubt the possibility that if the Forces of Chaos were to remain united, the Superpowers would enviably fall apart and would have been the start of yet another Galactic Dark, though debates do occur over the severity of this age and rather or not the Imperium or Republic would survive in some form, either as a fractured but still roughly united force or as a rump state barely clinging on. But, none the less, the conflict would last for years, killing untold trillions month by month but eventually, the infighting between the chaos forces, along with the death of Abaddon, leader of the Black Crusaders, and the destruction of Malal had weakened them enough for the rest of the galaxy to deal a decisive blow against the violent cultists that by 297 BTC/36K.072 CE the Chaos cultists momentum was effectively broken, allowing Anti-Chaos Cultists forces to force the cultists out completely, but leaving a ravaged and wartorn galaxy in its' wake. The conflict also saw the Jedis and other force-sensitives to cut themselves off from the force, as the horrors of this six-year-long conflict that brought about such pain and misery through the force that nearly all Jedis and force-sensitives alike insane, and those that didn't cut themselves off would often be driven insane because of the horrors this crusade inflicted upon the very force itself. More then 20%, some 150 Quintillion beings, of the Galactic population was killed by the end of the war, dropping the population from 650 Quintillion beings pre-crusades to 500 Quintillion beings post-crusades, which left hundreds of worlds completely depopulated as a result, either as a combination of horrific mass slaughter inflicted by invading Chaos Cultists, be they Khroneite, Malalan or Slaaneshi, or biological weapons that wiped out everything on the planet which Nurgleites are infamous for. Because of the number of beings killed, the destruction it caused and the damaged it inflicted, the crusades has scorched itself into the collective psyche of the entire galaxy, with only the Galactic Dark Age reaching the same kind of infamy, brutality, and sheer destruction. It took over a hundred and fifty years for the Republic, Imperium or any number of minor powers to fully recover from. For numerous other, smaller and often cases less developed systems, the destruction was too much and they often end up joining either the Republic or Imperium over the decade after the crusades or gradually shallowed up by either the Superpowers or the myriad of minor states in the galaxy. History First Year (302 BTC/36K.067 CE) Second Year (301 BTC/36K.068 CE) Third Year (300 BTC/36K.069 CE) Fourth Year (299 BTC/36K.070 CE) Fifth Year (298 BTC/36K.071 CE) Sixth Year (297 BTC/36K.072 CE) Other Names Combatants Anti-Chaos forces Galactic Republic Terran Imperium Numerous smaller factions Chaos Crusaders Khrone Cultists Tzeetch Cultists Slaansh Cultists Malal Cultists Black Crusaders Legacy of the Great Chaos Crusades Category:Conflicts Category:Wars Category:Galactic conflicts Category:Chaos conflicts Category:Great Chaos Crusades